Up Stories in collaboration with Vangelis Tsakalos @Above_View presents the active fault of Agios Nikitas – Athanios in Lefkada which literally cuts the Ionian Sea in half as it extends to the island of Kefalonia as well as west of Zakynthos. It is one of the most dangerous active faults in our country, as it can cause earthquakes above 7 Richter with devastating consequences. A characteristic of the impressive images recorded by the Up Stories drone is that it would not be an exaggeration to say that due to past earthquakes it has “swallowed” entire mountains, cutting them in half.

The fault of Agios Nikitas – Athanios

This fault is located at a distance of a few hundred meters from the western coastline, and is visible from the bay of Agios Nikitas to the south of the village of Athani, cutting the limestones and dolomites of the area. It has a NNE-SNE direction and an eastern slope. The trace of the fault, well expressed in the morphology of the area, is followed for a length of 17 km. Its northernmost part, on the west side of the settlement of Ag. Nikita, coincides with the eastern slope of the Megali Rachi hill and in front of it is the small elongated depression of Agios Nikitas.

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The conclusion of the scientific study by scientists Theodoros Rontogiannis & George Tsiabaus

The study of the faults on the island of Lefkada and the evaluation of the effects of the previous strong earthquakes as well as the earthquake of 2003, showed that the most important active fault can be considered the right-handed horizontal slip fault of Agios Nikitas – Athanios, which has a NE-NN direction D, almost parallel to the western coastline. This fault has similar geometric and dynamic characteristics to the submarine fault of Kefalonia-Lefkada, which is located a few kilometers from the steep coasts, the configuration of which is not linked to the existence of a normal fault, but to the tectonic uplift of the land, as result of the compression prevailing in the area and subsequent effects of gravity. Within the specific seismotectonic environment, the fact of the non-surface feedback of the Agios Nikitas – Athanios fault is noteworthy, despite its strong morphotectonic presence and the recording of many seismic epicenters along it, which is probably due to a long period of repetition of its action. However, the region of this fault is associated, in almost all earthquakes, with increased destruction in the built and natural environment as well as high seismic intensities.